


misty mountain hop

by thedeserttree



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Castiel and Dean Winchester Have a Profound Bond, Dean Winchester Has a Crush on Castiel, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Team Free Will (Supernatural), alternate universe- Sam and Dean run an animal shelter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 12:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18261059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedeserttree/pseuds/thedeserttree
Summary: Castiel has decided to give up his powers and transfer them to a trustworthy animal, a familiar, and live the rest of his life as a human. He decides to look for a familiar at Sam and Dean's animal shelter.





	misty mountain hop

Castiel sighed as his alarm rang at 3am and wondered why had he even bothered to set it as he had scarcely fallen asleep at all these past few days. He yawned nevertheless and set about his chore of gathering any and all items of importance and disappearing before anyone in town realized he was gone.

He murmured a quiet enlarging spell onto a carnation before dropping it into his backpack. He’d discovered that carnations worked faster and held the spell for longer than most flowers for these sort of charms, better than the recommended daisies.

He could almost hear his brother Gabriel scolding him for not following the rules and instead choosing the most convenient route. But Castiel had never understood why anyone would choose anything other than the quickest, most agreeable pathway; at the end of the day, isn’t that what magic was supposed to do, make their lives easier?

He pushed aside the thought and walked up to his desk and scooped up everything that he had laid out the night before and into the bag in one nimble swipe. After all, he had had a lot of practice doing this sort of thing, skipping town whenever someone found out about him being a witch, which happened more often than one would think, in spite of how secretive and private Castiel was in the first place. And frankly, after several hundreds of years of this, he was quite tired of it. Gabriel had offered him to let him live at his place in Grimsbury, one of the only towns in the country constituting entirely of magical beings, but he refused, as other witches in so close proximity would undoubtedly be bad for his sanity, considering how much they liked to “harmlessly” prank each other, and Castiel was _not_ all about that life.

He debated taking a shower or keeping himself clean magically, and ultimately came to the conclusion that although showers are nice, he’d better get going before his mailman arrived. He poured some day old coffee into a mug and grabbed a stale bagel from the fridge and quickly dressed himself in his usual three piece suit and a tan trench coat.

He picked up his car keys and wallet from the counter and walked out the front door, locking it behind him and dropped the key into an empty flower pot on the ground and got into his car and left. He didn't know quite where he was going yet but knew that he had to be a number of towns away before anyone woke up.

*********************************************************

Dean was proud of how far he and Sam had come with their animal shelter, having started from basically nothing. They knew all too well what it was like being abandoned, after their mother died when they were both young and their father, a drunk, left Dean with Sam when he was sixteen on a ‘business trip’ and hadn’t returned. Dean had called him and left hundreds of messages which he never returned, before finally accepting that he just didn’t care about them. They knew abandonment. They had a dead mother and a deadbeat drunk of an absent dad.

It had taken them a long time to get where they were, bouncing from one foster home to another until Dean was eighteen, living in crappy motel rooms and eating meals from vending machines, with their only source of income being endless shifts at the gas station. And now, several years later, they were proud owners of “Team Free Will” shelter that took in abandoned animals and helped them find new, loving homes. Though it was a non-profit, the business was going strong and they valued each and every member of their staff, full-time and volunteer. They received sizable donations every few weeks or so when they organized fundraisers, and it was enough for animal supplies, food and other things.

Dean finished prepping their newest volunteers about how to clean cages and was just about to head into his office for doing some paperwork when he spotted out of the corner of his eye, their first visitor of the day, an man in a trench coat.

“Welcome to Team Free Will Animal Welfare Shelter. I’m Dean, how may I-”, Dean froze as he saw the stranger properly. He was, by far the most beautiful man Dean had ever seen and he literally took his breath away.

The stranger opened his mouth in question but Sam came up behind Dean and completed, “How may we assist you today?” before not so lightly treading on his shoes to snap his attention back to the situation at hand.

Dean could feel his face heat up as he turned his head away in embarrassment, muttering a vague apology to nobody in particular. Sam would never let him live this down.

“I’d like to adopt an animal”. The stranger said in the deepest voice Dean had heard a human person speak in to Sam.

“Of course,” Sam said. “I will be assisting you, since my brother here is way too busy staring at y-”

“No,” Dean interrupted. “I can show him around while you lay down this week’s expenses”. His voice sounded oddly shrill.

“Perfect.” Sam grinned and vanished to do exactly that. “So,” Dean began. “What sort of animal would you prefer?” “Oh, something trustworthy.” the man said cryptically.

“Well, you’ll have to be a little more specific than that, buddy” Dean laughed.

“I’m not “buddy”. Castiel, Castiel Novak if you must.” “Well, Mr. Novak, why don’t you take a look around and see if you form a profound bond with any of our residents, and I’ll be right back.”

Castiel considered this. “Well, Dean, I wouldn’t mind sharing something profound with you, either.” Dean stopped. “What?” Castie-Mr. Novak smiled serenely. “Be back soon.”

Dean mumbled something unintelligible and walked away, blush creeping over his face.

**********************************************************

Castiel walked out of the shelter, disappointed that he hadn’t found a familiar even though he understood that it took a while before a familiar chooses a witch. Dean had been adorably awkward when he told him that he would be back next week when more animals arrived and Castiel couldn’t resist a provocative comment just to see his cheeks redden.

His happy thoughts were rudely interrupted by his phone ringing.

“Yes Gabriel, I’m sure I want to do this.” Castiel answered the phone without checking because only one person has his number.

He had told Gabriel that he was tired of being a witch and having to move everytime someone finds out about it. That he wanted a trustworthy familiar, to transfer all of his powers to and live the rest of his life as a human. Gabriel had not taken this news well and was trying to do everything in his power to convince him otherwise.

“Yes, I’m aware that I am one of the most powerful witches alive and no, this is not a waste of my gifts.” he rolled his eyes.

He disconnected the call before Gabriel could start sobbing crocodile tears and parked his car near a cheap motel to stay for the night.

*********************************************************

The next morning, Castiel made his way to the diner adjacent to the motel, shivering slightly because of the cold. He could easily have kept himself warm using a little bit of magic but he found that he rather liked the cold. Besides, if he was really going to be a human, he was better off getting used to it. If it bothered him that much, he could just layer the next time.

He pushed the heavy door to let himself in, gratefully welcoming to the warmth enveloping him as he stepped into the diner. The air was coated in the smell of pancakes and sugar and Castiel found himself smiling.

He sat down at a booth by the window and looked up to see his waiter setting down a menu in front of him.

“Hello, Dean”. Castiel said, amused by the nervous smile his voice brought on the other man’s face.

“I wasn’t aware you also worked at the diner.”

“It’s nice to have a second income, I guess”. It was a miracle Dean succeeded in saying an entire sentence without stuttering.

“Then tell me,” he drawled. “What would you recommend I order?”

“Uhm, I guess-” Dean swallowed.

“Excepting, of course, the choice meal in front of me.”

The red tinge beginning to make its way up Dean’s face was all too enjoyable, Castiel decided.

“Pancakes with your choice of syrup or ice cream are our specialty.”

“Alright then, pancakes with maple syrup it is” “Coming right up”, Dean managed and turned to leave, only growing redder by the second.

*****************************************************************

“Shut up,” Dean groaned as his brother launched into yet another fictitious and completely impossible story involving him and Castiel. “Shut up, shut up, shut up. I shouldn’t have told you about seeing him at the diner.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sam scoffed. “Your boyfriend will be here any minute. It’s been a week since he was here, you know that, and I would hate for him to see you like this.”

“He’s _not_ my boyfriend,” Dean insisted, “and why should I know if it’s been a week since he was here?”

“So you haven’t been counting the days since Thursday, then? Whatever dude, you have a crush and it’s _bad_.”

“What are we, in high school? So what if I have a crush? Stop making it such a big deal.”

“A crush? I hope it looks favourably on me,” a new voice quipped, “or it would make our previous and future interactions awkward indeed.”

Dean swiveled around to see Castiel staring at him intently.

“I, uh, well, I meant-“ Dean started.

“That it is indeed on you.” Sam finished for him.

Dean glared at him. “Go on then,” Sam made a shooing gesture at his brother and Castiel.

“New animals to see, profound bonds to be made.”

They walked towards where the newly brought animals were kept and a small black kitten with only one yellow eye managed to escape from her enclosure and was wandering and meowing pitifully for the people that dropped her off there.

Dean carefully picked her up and stroked her, muttered soothing words and placed her back into her cage. Whereupon, she gave the saddest meow Castiel had heard. Dean crumpled like a cheap card table, picked her up again and put her on his shoulder, where she seemed content enough.

Castiel watched this communion and felt a tug at his chest. The next moment, he heard in his head as clear as day, _it’s about time you found me, witch_. That cat was to be his familiar, it seemed.

Dean walked back to him with the cat still on his shoulder and opened his mouth to begin speaking, before the cat leapt off of Dean and planted herself in Castiel’s arms instead.

“Well then that’s settled,” Dean laughed. “She likes you.”

“Yes it seems she does,” Castiel scratched behind her ears. “I’ll keep her.”

That night, Castiel drew the curtains of his motel room and drew ancient runes in chalk over the floor.

He placed his familiar-Ceridwen-over on a rune and stood over another similar but larger one. Ceridwen whimpered.

“Ah yes, I’d nearly forgotten,” Castiel used his lighter and lit five candles around them and used his magic to turn the lights out.

_Are you sure?_ She spoke in his mind, yellow eye focused on his blue ones. _This cannot be reversed, you understand what it means?_

“Not you too,” Castiel complained. “I’ve thought about this for a long time and understand the importance of this decision.”

Ceridwen did only what could be assumed as the cat version of a shrug.

“ _Per gratiam collatam potestatem dea Hecate revertetur iudicium magica nimirum naturae Ceridwen_ ,” he paused. “ _Et agere permisit dea dona consequi saecula_.”

It was done.

Castiel raised his hand and muttered a spell for light.

Nothing changed.

He grinned. Castiel was human.

*********************************************************************

Dean smiled quietly to himself and leaned on the doorframe of his office seeing Sam and the other volunteers playing with the puppies.

He almost turned around to walk back into his office when he saw Castiel sauntering in the shelter, in his unmistakable tan trench coat.

“Good morning! Are you back to adopt another animal?” was what Dean tried to say, but all he could get out was a string of syllables that sounded like babyspeak.

Dean hated that Castiel’s very presence transformed a usually calm and collected persona into a bunch of incomprehensible talk and blushes. Castiel on the other hand, found it incredibly endearing.

“No, I’m here for an entirely different purpose.” It was a commendable feat that he had managed to decipher what Dean had intended on saying.

“Oh?” Dean knew exactly what purpose he had in mind.

Castiel was still walking towards him.

“It seems as though my connection with the kitten wasn’t the only one I happened to create.”

They were now just a few inches apart. Castiel smelled like a thunderstorm, the fresh earth after a spell of rain. Dean wanted to disappear into it.

“You and I do seem to share a more profound bond, Dean.” He finished. But Dean did not hear a single word he said. His heart was beating so fast he was sure Castiel could hear it.

Dean met the other man’s eyes. Castiel lowered his gaze to Dean’s lips, which were turned up in a goofy smile.

Castiel tilted his head back a little, and kissed Dean gently.

The moment was dizzying, and Dean almost melted into his embrace when Castiel drew back. Dean raised his eyebrows in question.

“I should tell you something, Dean.” For once, it was _Castiel_ that sounded nervous. “It’s about my past and although it's not relevant now in any way, one would find it particularly distasteful.”

“We all have our pasts, Cas and you don’t have to tell me unless you want to, and I won’t judge.”

“ _Cas_.” He sounded the word out. “I like it.”

Dean smiled and pulled him into another kiss and used his foot to shut his office door behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! and thanks to overcapitalized who helped me edit this.  
> comment if you enjoyed it. any and all feedback is appreciated!


End file.
